A number of prior art nail tools have been used by nail technicians to remove incremental quantities of natural or artificial nail surfaces. The most common of these is the nail file which is traditionally in the form of a narrow, flat strip having two opposed planar surfaces. A surface layer of an abrasive material ("grit") is bonded to each planar surface or, in the case of metal nail files, the surfaces are scored to provide an abrasive surface. Most often the relative coarseness of the abrasive surfaces differ, e.g., one surface being a medium grit for the quick removal of material and the other surface being a fine grit for polishing the nail surface.
Many conventional nail files are generally too flexible, resulting in unwanted bending and breaking. In addition, limiting the surfaces of a file to a single grit is inconvenient to the nail technician since more variability in grades of coarseness is often desirable to provide a smooth, highly-polished nail surface. In addition, flat boards are often difficult to hold and manipulate at angles necessary to provide optimum results and produce technician fatigue. Finally, most conventional nail boards cannot be washed and reused.
Accordingly, a nail tool is needed in the industry which allows the nail technician to easily hold and manipulate the tool for maximum efficiency in forming and shaping nails without requiring frequent repositioning of the tool in the technician's hand. There is further a need for a nail tool having the aforementioned attributes which is also adapted to provide a plurality of faces for extended service life. Finally, there is a need for a nail tool which provides a plurality of corners for cuticle work.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a nail tool which can be easily handled by a technician and which meets the aforementioned needs.